Aris Heru Utomo's Blog

Palm oil is an essential contributor to the Indonesian economy,  particularly in rural livelihoods. The Central Bureau of Statistics noted that in 2017, Indonesia’s export of palm oil and its derivative products was still the largest foreign exchange contributor to Indonesia.

Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil in the world. Indonesia produced more than 35 million tons of palm oil, 25 million tons of which were exported worldwide. The export value of Indonesian palm oil is around $17 billion, making up more than 12 percent of total exports in the country. It is predicted that up to 10 years, the volume and export value of palm oil and its derivative products will continue to increase.

Since palm oil has a positive contribution to Indonesia’s economy and creating benefits to the wellbeing of farmers, so the efforts of many countries to ban the export of palm oil Indonesia can be considered as an attempt to disrupt the national interests of Indonesia.